Its been a busy week back in Holland after last week’s Swiss trip. (Peek these recaps by John & Elena) And I’m still playing catch up as today is Amsterdam’s biggest Tech Conference: The Next Web

As I scramble to ship this (late, I know) issue, wrap up my inbox & head to the conference, I’m using my regular quiver of tools to set reminders of emails to followup with, schedule social media posts & my colleagues are using automation software to ship pitches & outreach emails for clients. Increasingly, automation, AI & bots 🤖 help our small team make an ever bigger impact.

With meetings this morning + this afternoon I’ll only be at The Next Web for a few hours today & hopefully more tomorrow. Like I do with many shows, I use tools like Twitfox to autofave tweets & Statusbrew to invite new followers to subscribe to this newsletter. Often when I hand someone a Twotone Amsterdam sticker, they recognize the logo from social media & maybe already subscribe. But do I have to be there to have that face-to-face exchange.

Through a mutual friend Ad, I had the chance to meet Ian of Schon DSGN & his girlfriend Bridget both visiting Amsterdam for the first time. I loaned them bikes & we had a great dinner dinner talking fabrication, bike racing & entrepreneurship. He’s stepping up his watch game as we speak!

…launch a new digital proposition?…devise a strategy and roadmap that keeps your organization competitive in the digital economy?…make innovation part of your organizations’ DNA?…develop rapid prototypes to test the potential of new ideas?…organize self steering, agile teams that have the power to create successful value propositions?

Grinduro is just what it sounds like: Gravel Grinder + Mountain Bike-Style Enduro = one long loop of pavement and dirt, where finishing times aren’t based on overall loop time, but four timed segments (each roughly five-to-ten minutes).